Without a lot of fanfare, Petrolia council has approved the 2023 budget which will see most homeowners pay about $69 more in municipal taxes this year.

After one day of budget deliberations in January and a public budget meeting in February, council officially passed the document Monday night. This year, Petrolia will spend $6,092,783 to operate the town and $3,958,576 on capital projects. 

Town staff brought a three per cent tax increase to council for 2023.  That comes after three years without a tax increase.  The three years before that, the town passed along a one per cent increase.

A three per cent tax increase means homeowner with a house assessed at $193,000 – the average in town – will pay $69 more to cover the cost of municipal taxes. Lambton county is projected to raise its portion of the bill by about four per cent.

That’s even though there is about $54,000 more in revenue this year because of new housing. 

Officials said inflation helped drive up the cost of running government.  Inflation is hovering around seven per cent in Ontario.

There are some larger than average increases in the budget – including council’s salaries which are up nine per cent more than the $108,000 spent in 2022.

The cost of general administration is up four per cent, but there are some big increases in spending within the department including an 80 per cent increase in legal fees – with $45,000 budgeted this year over $25,000 spent last year.

Over all, the town plans to spend about 13 per cent more on legal and professional fees this year.

The town expects to contribute more to the operation of the YMCA in 2023. Taxpayers will foot $487,225 of the bill to run the centre. That’s up from $435,426 in 2022.

In 2023, the town hopes the arena will need less than last year – $211,966 – to cover its deficit.

The town also plans to collect enough taxes that it will be able to put $1,531,458 into working reserves at the end of the budget year – it’s slightly less than the town put into the working capital reserves last year.

Rick Charlebois, town treasurer and chief administrative officer, says the town has built its reserves to $8,904,238.

Only Mayor Brad Loosley spoke as the budget passed. “I had concerns of being at three percent but under the circumstances I can live with that.”